39 replies to this topic

[damaynman150]

My question revolves around what you all would consider a "Great run" for an NFL Franchise these days. I was watching ESPN yesterday and they had Joe Flacco on the phone. It occurred to me that the Ravens are always considered a great team and have performed very well for the better part of a decade. They draft well, sign good players and coaches, and are always competitive down the stretch.

That said, they have not won a Super Bowl since the turn of the century. Other teams like this include the Chargers (I know they have been discussed a lot here recently) and the early-2000s Eagles.

If the Bills were to have a stretch coming up where for the next 6 years they were competitive (think consistent 9-11 wins or more), made the playoffs 4 years and hell, even won the AFC East once or twice, would that be considered a "Successful" job by Buddy and Chan? Or are we of the opinion that unless you win a Super Bowl at least once in a run like that, the front office has failed?

My Bills fandom started in earnest at age 10 in 1999 with the Home Run Throwforward, so I have not really known the Bills to be anything more than a horrible team, but for you guys who are going into several decades worth of rooting for the Bills, I'd be curious to hear your perspective on what standard we hold the Bills to.

[PromoTheRobot]

Anything less than 6 straight undefeated seasons is an insult to my fandom. Ralph is cheap.











PTR

[CardinalScotts]

Great question - is winning the super bowl the only measuring stick ?   For some yes for some no, like the old question winning a super bowl does not make you a great QB. If Brady never made it back after SB one he legacy would be throwing for 149 yards in the biggest game of his life. Yes they won but sorta like Big Ben's first ehhh he was on the winning team but he didn't win the super bowl.

The consistency to me is greater, but you do have to get there- if your guy makes a kick your awesome and if your guy misses you stink ?   Not if you have a brain in your head. Give me the 10-11 win seasons it's the ride that's enjoyable, bad season is a once in a while 6-7 wins

Edited by CardinalScotts, 23 May 2012 - 08:18 AM.

[gringo starr]

If someday in the not too distant future I’m reading a book titled “Then Chan said to Fitz...”

[JPS]

I used to answer the question by suggesting that unless the Bills win the Superbowl, they retain the "loser" tag because of the 4 Superbowls.

Now, they've been bad for so long, I would take another string of losing in the playoffs just to be relevant again.  So I'd really LOVE to see the Bills spike up and be GREAT for 1 year (SB), but I'd take consistently good.

[eball]

Anything over 4 yards.

[Maddog69]

Superbowl Victory or Bust

[Just in Atlanta]

Next season we must make the playoffs.

Anything less than that would be disappointing.

[bmur66]

Gotta win the Big One. Anything less is unacceptable. I could tolerate losing an AFC Championship once if thats what it took to win the Big One the following year.

[ny33]

damaynman150, on 23 May 2012 - 08:01 AM, said:

My question revolves around what you all would consider a "Great run" for an NFL Franchise these days. I was watching ESPN yesterday and they had Joe Flacco on the phone. It occurred to me that the Ravens are always considered a great team and have performed very well for the better part of a decade. They draft well, sign good players and coaches, and are always competitive down the stretch.

That said, they have not won a Super Bowl since the turn of the century. Other teams like this include the Chargers (I know they have been discussed a lot here recently) and the early-2000s Eagles.

If the Bills were to have a stretch coming up where for the next 6 years they were competitive (think consistent 9-11 wins or more), made the playoffs 4 years and hell, even won the AFC East once or twice, would that be considered a "Successful" job by Buddy and Chan? Or are we of the opinion that unless you win a Super Bowl at least once in a run like that, the front office has failed?

My Bills fandom started in earnest at age 10 in 1999 with the Home Run Throwforward, so I have not really known the Bills to be anything more than a horrible team, but for you guys who are going into several decades worth of rooting for the Bills, I'd be curious to hear your perspective on what standard we hold the Bills to.

For fans? Winning a Super Bowl. For owners: whatever makes a consistent profit; I think making the playoffs most years qualifies as that.

[Dorkington]

I'll keep it relative.

If they can get a winning season here, and a few more in the upcoming years, I'll be happy. The Superbowl is a pipe dream considering we haven't even been to the playoffs in 12 years.

Hell, just get me to .500. Lets start there. That's how pathetic we've been for so long.

Edit: I'd love to see our team be good enough that there are never any "sure victories" when playing the Bills.

Edited by Dorkington, 23 May 2012 - 09:44 AM.

[NoSaint]

i think the two items go hand in hand. success could come in either form, but i think the ultimate achievement in the NFL is to put together that stretch of say 8-10 seasons with a wide majority ending in the playoffs, with 1-2 being with rings. i think thats about as close to a dynasty as you get these days. With teams being so close in talent, and a one and done format - any given matchup, or bounce of the ball can ruin a SB winning caliber team, so its hard to expect that with any regularity.

what the ravens have going is that the face of the franchise, ray lewis, has stayed the same since the championship making it easier to include this run of playoffs as being part of the same groups success.

Edited by NoSaint, 23 May 2012 - 09:43 AM.

[uncle flap]

Dorkington, on 23 May 2012 - 09:42 AM, said:

Edit: I'd love to see our team be good enough that there are never any "sure victories" when playing the Bills.

That's exactly what I was thinking. If the league-wide perception is that you don't want to play the Bills, and that perception is sustained for at least a few seasons, I'd consider that a success at this point.

You're also right about it being relative; If the above scenario becomes the case, but there aren't any accolades to back it up, then it wouldn't seem all that successful in retrospect.

Edited by uncle flap, 23 May 2012 - 10:03 AM.

[jboyst62]

Do you consider the Bears, Cardinals, Panthers, Falcons or Jets successful teams in the last decade?  All have finished top four in the league at least once. To not have the Ring makes a difference. If you can consistently turn out good teams then that isn't bad, either. But this is a sport and you either win or you lose and if you don't win it outright then you don't win period.

[eball]

Dorkington, on 23 May 2012 - 09:42 AM, said:

I'll keep it relative.

If they can get a winning season here, and a few more in the upcoming years, I'll be happy. The Superbowl is a pipe dream considering we haven't even been to the playoffs in 12 years.

Hell, just get me to .500. Lets start there. That's how pathetic we've been for so long.

Edit: I'd love to see our team be good enough that there are never any "sure victories" when playing the Bills.

I understand what you're saying, but in reality, each season must be taken on its own merits, and we've seen it happen before in this league where a team comes from "out of nowhere" to make a run.  So for me the Super Bowl, even this season, is not a pipe dream.  Plus, the signs are there for the Bills to break out (i.e., 5-2 start last season in which the only losses were by 3 pts. on the road to playoff teams).

Practically everything about what led to the 1-8 finish has been addressed this offseason.

I'm reasonably comfortable making the statement that as of right now, no team sees the Bills on the schedule and thinks "sure victory."

[DefenseWinzChampionshipz]

For me at this point just making the playoffs 2 out of the next 4 years is successful. The sad part is that after all the additions we've had in the offseason this year, the pressure is higher for Buddy and Chan to at "least" have a winning season. 9-7 minimum... To go 8-8 or lower this year will raise a lot of negativity towards the team.

Making the Super Bowl would be great but look at what happened to the Seahawks. They went to the super bowl once and lost and then? They sucked for years after that... So imo Seattle's franchise shouldn't feel "successful". Making it into the playoffs with a losing record because your conference sucks is also not successful imo.

[Buftex]

gringo starr, on 23 May 2012 - 08:22 AM, said:

If someday in the not too distant future I’m reading a book titled “Then Chan said to Fitz...”

[bowery4]

52 years old now (me and the Bills) and no Superbowl blows , my Dad died not seeing it (in 89) although he did see the AFL champ days. I just want one Superbowl, before I kick. To me that day can not come soon enough. I think they could be good for a while and it would at least make me happy but true happiness is the "big game" and if it was against the Pack at least for me it (because we should have been able to play them in 65), would be that much sweeter.

Edited by bowery4, 23 May 2012 - 10:52 AM.

[Captain Hindsight]

eball, on 23 May 2012 - 08:44 AM, said:

Anything over 4 yards.

Nice

To the OP having a legitimate shot to be a contender every year is the ultimate goal. Anything can happen in the playoffs. If you get there, the sky is the limit

[Best Player Available]

10-6 would be nice along with splitting the division games. Even the Dolphins blew us out last year 2X. Playoffs at 10-6 would be a nice bonus but not mandatory this year at least.